They were in love once . . .
by BlackOpal
Summary: Giselle has heard stories all her life about how her parents were in love, but now, all she sees is hatred. And with her father printing 'Love at the Moulin Rouge', they're drifting farther and father apart. What happens now? Whee! I updated!
1. They were in love once...

Title: They were in love once….  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own anyone from the Moulin Rouge, they belong to Baz. I do own Isa, Giselle and Joshua.  
  
Dedication: To my little brother, who while trying to convince my father to stop playing the 'Elephant Love Melody' in the car, gave me the inspiration for the story.  
  
A/N: It does take sometime to get into and I'm not done yet, but it's good. When have I ever steered you wrong?  
  
Isabelle leaned back in her plush velvet seat, taking in a view she had never seen before through the windows of the carriage.  
  
She has been amazed when she opened her front door and saw two-snow white horse in her driveway with a cherry wood cab attached behind. As if her heart wasn't racing enough, Giselle, Isa's best friend got out of the coach. Her jaw dropped. Giselle saw it and blushed.  
  
"Come, Papa's waiting." Giselle said, taking her arm and steering her up the stairs. Once Isa was comfortably in, Giselle climbed up. She felt a hand on her back, and looked to see Joshua supporting her. She smiled her thanks and he smiled back. Giselle settled in across from Isa, and Joshua put Isa's things at their feet.  
  
"Wow," Isa said looking at her friend. "This is amazing." Giselle blushed again and looked out the window. She was gorgeous when she blushed.  
  
Isa had decided when she first met Giselle that she was the prettiest girl on Earth. Giselle had perfect teeth with a perfect smile, dazzling baby blue eyes, a long slender body that was shown off by the glamorous dresses Giselle always wore, and stunning red hair that was a shade no one could match. But Giselle was shy and unsure of herself to people she didn't know that was her only fault.  
  
"Papa insisted." She said with her light French accent. "He said that I'm royalty so I deserve the best, as you should too."  
  
"He must love you very much, to do all this. I can't wait to meet him! And your mother . . ."  
  
Giselle shook her head. "My parents won't be like you think. They both love me but they can't stand each other. They always tell they were in love once . . ." She drifted off, tears were shining in her eyes.  
  
Isa leaned over and put her hand on her best friend's arm. "I'm sure I'll love them." Giselle wiped her tears away and nodded.  
  
"Silly me, crying over nothing. Soon I'll be like Cry Baby Catherine." They giggled. Cry Baby Catherine, a classmate, was known for crying over the littlest things, like if she wasn't wearing the same color as the teacher Sister Margaret, who both Giselle and Isa believed was the meanest one alive.  
  
Isa and Giselle both went to St. Joseph's Mission Academy, the best all- girls school in New York City. Tuition was costly, so only the best went to the Academy. They both hated their school.  
  
"Here we are." Giselle said as they stopped moving. Joshua got off to open the gate. 'Smith' was engraved on it. Underneath it the words 'Moulin Rouge' were chiseled into the iron, metallic versions of roses surrounded the French words.  
  
"When Papa and Mother were growing up, they met at the Moulin Rouge and fell in love. They were going to rename the house 'Giselle' after me but I begged them to keep it." She gazed at the words.  
  
The carriage lurched forward, and started up the driveway. The trees opened up to reveal an enormous mansion. Isa gasped. It was the biggest house she had ever seen, and the most beautiful.  
  
Giselle giggled. "Close your mouth, you're catching flies." She reached and tapped her mouth closed. "Come on." Giselle opened the door, and there was Joshua, smiling at her. Giselle flashed her dazzling smile and climbed out. Joshua helped her down and held his hand out for Giselle, he still wore a smile but it was smaller. Isa began to wonder about the connection between her best friend and Joshua, whatever it was, she was sure it was forbidden.  
  
Giselle took her arm and steered her into the mansion. They came to a stop in the lobby. A man was sitting in the window seat that was overlooking the bay, with paper and pen in hand.  
  
"Papa!" Giselle jumped onto her father and wrapped her arms around her neck. He kissed her on the forehead and set her down. Isa was surprised, at sixteen Giselle was still allowed to approach her father in such a carefree attitude.  
  
Giselle's father was very handsome. His eyes were blue, like Giselle's but that was the only thing she had in common with him.  
  
"Ah, you must be Isabelle." He outstretched his hand. "I'm Christian." 


	2. You don't know about your past...

Title: You don't know about the past...  
Disclaimer: I own Giselle and Isa but the rest belongs to Baz. *sigh*  
Dedication: My comfy cozy bed.  
  
Giselle shook his outstretched hand. It was warm and strong, the grip tight but secure.   
"I'm glad you could come," He said, sitting back into the window seat. "It's not very often Gigi is able to have a friend over. Her mother," He made a face on the word, it was barely noticeable and was gone within seconds. Even so, Isa saw it. He cleared his throat and started again. "Her mother and I have heard so much about you. We're quite busy these days, we barely have enough time for each other, let alone Gigi. I'm so glad she has found someone to be with who can keep her company on the days when we can't." Isa smiled.  
"Giselle is my best friend, I would be nothing without her." Christian smiled and nodded.  
"Papa!" Giselle exclaimed, utter delight written on her face. "Is that your new script, Papa?" He nodded and handed her the packet. "Oh Isa, you'll love it! She can read it can't she Papa?"  
"Of course darling!" Giselle squealed, never before had Isa seen such happiness in her best friend's face.   
"Come," She said, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the mahogany staircase. "We shall read it in my room. Will you come Papa, to read us your song?" He shook his head.  
"No darling. I shall be going into the city, I have an actor who is interested in the script. I've heard he's quite good and he might just be perfect for the assassin, the lover if we're lucky."   
"Ah luck," Giselle looked at him, smiling. "There's no such thing as luck, only miracles that have gone wrong."  
Her father laughed, his eyes shining, love glowing in his eyes. "Aye, that's the truth. Go on, upstairs now. I have to get ready for to go." He kissed her on the forehead and waved goodbye to Isa.  
"Papa?" Giselle asked, as they were halfway up the stairs. "Will you be at supper?"  
"Yes darling."  
"And," She hesitated. "And will mother?"   
Christian sighed gazed out the window, for a moment it seemed as if he wouldn't answer.   
"Yes darling. Yes, your mother will be at dinner." He sat back at the window and Giselle went up the stairs.  
*****  
"All you need is love!" Giselle belt out the words. Sure they were low but she could do it.  
"A girl has got to eat!" Isa had the script because Giselle didn't need it. She had every word, note song and emotion embedded into her brain, right up until the new part that is.   
They were reading the entire play, singing the songs as they went along. They shot the lyrics back and forth, falling in love with Christopher and Satina, the two that fell in love. They were determined to make the play come alive.  
"Then we'll write a song, and we'll put it in the show!" Giselle gasped, stopping dead in her tracks. "This is the part he added." She exclaimed. She flipped to the music and skimmed through the words. She smiled, "Listen," She told Isa and began to sing the words.  
"Never knew I could feel like this,   
It's like I've never seen the sky before.  
Want to vanish inside your kiss,  
Everyday I'm loving you, more and more."  
Giselle sang her heart out, she adored this song. It was everything she ever believed in, especially the chorus.  
"Come what may,  
Come what may,  
I will love you,  
Until my dying-"  
"WHERE did you get that?" The voice that came from the doorway was cold and surprised, practically screaming.  
Giselle and Isa jumped up. Giselle threw the script on the bed and folded her hands behind her back.  
"Hello mother. How was your evening?"   
"Perfect, I got the part." She held out her hands and Giselle rushed into them. Her mother cleared her throat. Giselle sighed and stood back, sinking into a deep curtsy. As soon as she stood up, she hugged her mother around the waist, her mother's arm snaked around Giselle's waist, hugging her close. She put her head into Giselle's hair.  
This was where Giselle got all her beauty. Her mother was tall, slim and graceful. Giselle came up to her mother's shoulder, their hair colors blending in with each other.   
"I've missed you mother." Giselle said.   
"Darling, I've missed you too. Being in Connecticut was horrible without my baby girl. Every thing was so bleak without you to lighten the mood."   
"Will you have to go to Connecticut for the rehearsals?" Giselle asked.  
"No. No, they're based in New York, I don't understand why I had to go up there." She shifted her eyes to Isa. "Who's this?"  
"Mother this is Isa. Isa this is Satine, my mother." Giselle said.  
"Ah, so this is the wonderful Isa that I have heard so much about." Isa curtsied, getting the impression that Satine was proper and Isa should present herself as so. Satine nodded, acknowledging her curtsy. "What is that?" Satine asked, spotting the script on the bed.  
"It's papa's script."   
"Script? What script?" Satine asked, her face pale.  
"Love at the Moulin Rouge." Satine screamed, covering her mouth with her hand.   
"What?" She hissed. Giselle pulled back, suddenly afraid.  
Satine picked up the script and flipped to the back pages, the pages the song was on.   
"Oh God!" She breathed. "No! No, he can't do this." She fell to the floor and started to breathe heavily.  
"Mother," Giselle cried, kneeling besides her mother. "What's wrong? What is the matter?"  
"I... I... I got to go." She scrambled to her feet, ran into the hall and slammed the door.  
Giselle looked towards Isa.   
"I'm sorry," She said and ran to her mother's room.  
She knocked on her mother's door, listening to her mother's sobs behind it. She opened it.  
There Satine was, sitting on the plush velvet bed, with the red sheets that Giselle had once buried herself under to hide from the dreaded nightmares. So many memories of happiness they held, now so much pain was on it.   
"Mother? What's wrong." She sat in front of her mother's bed and laid her head in Satine's lap. "Was it the song?" Satine nodded.  
"My baby, my beautiful baby girl. My baby Giselle." She grabbed her arms and lifted Giselle up besides her, placing her in her lap. "I love you darling. I love you more than anything else in the world. Yes, darling it was the song."  
"But why Mother? It was so pretty."  
"Yes, I know." Satine wiped tears from her face. "Oh, darling. You have no idea what that song is do you? You know nothing of your past, nothing of us." She smoothed her hair.   
"The song, what does it have to do with it?" Giselle pressed.  
"When-" She stopped, hesitated and inhaled. "When you were a baby, your father made up that song. We would sing it to you, every night. You wouldn't go to sleep unless you heard it." She smiled. "You were so spoiled."  
Giselle could tell that she wasn't telling the whole truth, even still, it felt good to hear her talk about the old days, the days when her parents were in love.   
"Now, go to your friend, she's very nice. It wouldn't be proper if we left her all alone in this big house." Giselle looked at her mother. She didn't want to leave her but she did want to visit with Isa. She nodded and left.  
*****  
One week after Isa left, the script was done. Broadway was so eager to put the play into production that it held auditions the day the full script was off the printer. Christian Smith soon became the best play writer in New York.   
"Papa, can you believe it? You're in the paper again. Listen," Giselle said as she, her mother and father were gathered in the parlor. "Christian Smith has done it yet again. He has provided beloved New York with a play full of passion, drama, sorrow and love. He has written it as if he actually had experienced the fiery love of Christopher and Satina, as if he actually had his lover die in his arms, never to awake again. And now, with the opening just six months away, tickets are being sold already, many are scrambling to hear just a bit of the magic this show has promised." She dropped the newspaper. "Papa, Mother, why are you looking for the lovers, you two would be perfect."   
Christian looked to Satine. She shook her head. "No darling. No we wouldn't."  
"I think you would." Giselle said. "You two have wonderful voices and-"  
"Giselle!" Christian shouted. "That is enough." He breathed hard. Satine looked at him, horrified for his shouting. "You're mother and I can not play the part, that is final."  
Giselle swallowed and nodded. Silence enveloped the room, tension thick. "Excuse me." She said and got up. She ran to her room, the sounds of sobs echoed from the hall.  
"Christian." Satine started. "Why, why in hell did you do that? She was just trying to-"  
"Satine, she mustn't know. She wouldn't understand. She would hate us." Satine burst into tears, her mass of red hair slowing coming untied.   
He remembered the days she would wear her hair down, just for him. He always said he loved her hair down, free, just like her. His fingers itched to touch her, they itched to wipe away her tears but he didn't.  
You don't love her anymore. Remember that. Christian nodded. He couldn't love her, wouldn't love her. Not ever, never again. He had already been hurt once. 


	3. She has a right to know....

Title: She has a right to know...  
Disclaimer: The Moulin Rouge, Satine and Christian belong to Baz. Joshua, Giselle, Andrew and Isa belong to me.  
A/N: I'm sorry. I must leave you all. I'm going away for a week. Yes, I know, it's not my fault I have to! So that means no Giselle for a while, that's why I wrote this one so quick, it's short but I think you guys will like it. I had a lot of fun writing it. Even after I get back I have to write for my 'Ami' story before the next installment of this, I'm sorry. But I have fans that like that one too. I'm sorry.  
"They argued after dinner, Papa yelled at me. It was my fault." Giselle and Isa were sitting on the lawn, unpacking their lunch at their favorite place. There was a cliff and off the cliff was a raging river. It was surprisingly quiet, just the perfect place for the midday meal of two girls.  
"Well, at least it didn't last long right?" Isa asked, Giselle nodded and looked away. "What do you have?" She asked, scanning the contents of her best friend's hamper.  
"Do you want my raspberry biscuits? Marianne knows I don't eat them, I think she made them especially for you." Isa nodded and picked up the cream colored packet.  
"Hello Giselle." Isa watched as Giselle's muscles tightened.  
She knew who it was. The only person on the Earth Giselle couldn't stand. The very one that had tried over and over again to get Giselle to court him. He thought he was the best, and the best deserved Giselle. But he was not the best and Giselle did not want him.  
"Hello Andrew." She said between her teeth without turning around.  
"Did you go to the river last night?" Giselle spun around to face him, her face hot with anger. He and his friends snickered. This was their entertainment. "Did you wait for me," He said, leaning nearer and nearer to her. "Or were you home, dreaming of me?" Andrew's face was in front of hers inches away. "Kiss me, Giselle. You want me, I know it. Kiss," He rested her forehead against me. "Me." He kissed her. Isa felt as if she would throw up; it was a disgusting sight.   
Andrew's eyes were closed but Giselle's were wide open, shocked and enraged. He pulled away from her, smiling. He had gotten what he wanted. Suddenly, Giselle's face shifted. Her lips turned upwards, slowly forming a smile.  
"Did you like that Giselle?" Andrew asked, seeing the smile. "You are smiling."  
"No Andrew." Her hand whipped out and slapped him. Hard. A red mark lashed across his cheek. Andrew drew his hand up to his face. Giselle's smile grew wider. "I was smiling," She whispered in his ear. "Because I had been waiting to do that for a very, very long time."  
She stood up, brushed her skirts off and walked away. Isa followed.  
"I saw you two days ago. You were in the haystack with that servant, what's his name, Joshua?" Giselle stopped. "A servant, boys." He said to his friends. "A good for nothing, poverty-stricken servant." He walked towards Giselle. "Someone who is just waiting to stick in what he can't stick anything in to anyone. Except you. Or wait," He grabbed her arm, and leaned to whisper in her ear, mocking what she just did to him. "Maybe your mother." She turned around as fast as lightning, her fist landing firmly into his gut.  
"How dare you talk about her that way about my mother!" She threw another punch at his eye, it connected as Giselle saw in Andrew's face. He grabbed both her arms and twisted them painfully. Giselle stubbornly bit her lip to keep from cry out with pain.  
"Why not? You're mother was a whore, she sold sex for money, diamonds. Father told me. But you know all about that don't you? About your mother, the Moulin Rouge." He looked at her face. "Or do you?"   
"What is going on here?" A teacher from the school came running towards them.  
Giselle fell to the ground, rubbing her hands that Andrew had dropped only seconds before the teacher came into view.  
"Nothing, Miss Higher." One of Andrew's friends said. "Giselle just fell down that cliff over there, she would've gone into the river if Andrew hadn't caught her."  
After a minute of inspecting them, trying to decide if they were telling the truth, Mrs. Higher nodded and left.  
"School will be concluding soon, better get to your classes." She said over her shoulder.  
"Well then, we're off. It was a pleasure seeing you again Giselle. It always is." Andrew said smiling sweetly. In response she spit in his face. "That wasn't very nice. You better be careful, someone might find out about your fling with that servant, or worse, your mother." He kissed her cheek and Giselle turned a pale color, shaking with violent rage.  
"Giselle?" Isa asked, kneeling down to her best friend.   
"My mother, all this time they lied to me. They lied about everything." Giselle cried into her hands.  
"You don't know that. Andrew was probably just making lies." She nodded.  
"You're right Isa. It's probably that." She wiped tears of her cheeks, they left stains on them.   
"Come on," Isa said, helping Giselle up. "Let's get back."   
*****  
"Why are you so quiet tonight, Gigi?" Christian asked calling her the pet name he made for her as a baby.   
"Yes darling. What's the matter." Satine added, taking a spoonful of potatoes and placed them on the table.  
"Mother, Papa," Giselle hesitated. Did she want to do this? Did she really want to know the truth?  
"Is something wrong? Are you sick?" Satine reached over to feel her forehead.   
"No, Mother. I'm fine."   
"Then what's wrong?"   
"Darling?" Her mother pressed.  
"How did you and Papa meet?" She asked.  
Her mother stopped eating and Christian choked on his water.  
"We met at the Moulin Rouge." She said.  
"Yes, Mother I know. But that's all my life you've told me 'We met at the Moulin Rouge, fell in love and got married,' but what about the rest of it? What about the story of how you fell in love. I never heard it! NEVER!" She screamed.  
"Gigi." He reached across the table for her hand.  
"When we met at the Moulin Rouge-"  
"Satine." Christian said in a warning tone.  
"You're father was so innocent-" She ignored him and continued.  
"Satine, stop now." He said louder.  
"And I was desperate for love, even though I didn't know it."  
"SATINE!" He yelled.  
"Stop it Christian!" She yelled back. "She has a right to know! She's old enough now."  
She stared at him, challenging him to disagree. He sighed and looked away. Her mother had won.   
Giselle gripped the bars on the chair, bracing herself for what was to come, bracing herself for the truth.  
"I was a courtesan, from the Moulin Rouge." 


	4. I stopped loving her for what she did...

Disclaimer: Nothings mine except the story, Giselle and Joshua, ok?

A/N: Alrighty, this ones a darker chapter, *****cringes* I know I'm sorry. It tells what happened to make Christian and Satine stop loving each other (even though we all know they really didn't) At least I updated, I got a couple nasty emails that threatened to finish the story for me! *everyone gasps* I KNOW! You guys must really like this one huh?

Giselle sat motionless in her seat, taking in everything her mother said. 

She listened as her mother carefully described everything and everyone. The Duke, Zidler, Toulouse and even Nini-Legs-In-The-Air, no one was left out. Every detail was specified, every personality was illustrated, nothing was left out.

"I loved your Father. Deeply, so much I couldn't stand to be without him . . . maybe that's what drove me over the edge." Satine said, shakily. Remembering the past was such a painstaking task.

"I don't understand. If you were so much in love, why aren't you now?" Giselle asked, unsure of the answer she would get.

Silence followed.

After what seemed an eternity, her father spoke up.

"Satine betrayed me." He said.

This couldn't be true. No matter how much her parents hated each other, they respected the other. 

Giselle looked at her mother, trying to force her to deny the accusation. She didn't. Satine kept her eyes focused straight ahead, her hands were clamped tightly together in her lap and her face was etched with pain. Giselle knew it was true. She looked up with tears in her eyes, waiting for her father to continue.

"She didn't want to admit it, but in her heart, she knew it was true." Christian said, his eyes an ice blue. "I stopped trusting your mother for what she did."

"But what did she do, papa?" Giselle asked, her voice cracking. Did she really want to know?

"You mother, took your life into her hands. She found out she was pregnant, and grew terrified. She told Zidler, he was outraged, his Sparkling Diamond with a child? It was the downfall of the Moulin Rouge! This baby could destroy everything!

" But, he knew he could fix it. He knew Satine was pained and suffering and so, he fed her lies, telling her that I would hate her when I found out. That I would leave her on the streets with nothing, if I knew she was carrying my child. Our child." He paused to wipe away tears from his cheeks. Giselle watched as her mother did the same thing. "Zidler had convinced her, that I didn't love her, that she was better off without me, without the baby. He told her he had a plan, one that would take away the heartache and suffering she had. She would get an abortion, but they were illegal. She would have to dissapear, and then come back a brand new Sprakling Diamond, to the Moulin Rouge." Giselle was terrified. 

She had heard about abortions, horrid procedures where the mothers were so desperate to get rid of their child they would lie on cold tables with unsterile tools. They would risk bleeding to death or infections, all to get out the thing made because of love. 

Surely her mother wouldn't do that to her?

"And so, like 'Love at the Moulin Rouge' said, she died in my arms on opening night. She left me broken and scarred, thinking I would never get to kiss her, or hold her or be with her again. But oh how wrong I was.

"Months later, Satine showed at my door holding a little baby in her arms. But she wasn't my Satine, oh no. My Satine was gone, she was not the same. This Satine was scared and broken. And this Satine had a child.

"I didn't know what to say. I knew she had betrayed me, but I knew this child was mine." He sighed. "From the moment I saw you, Gigi, I loved you. I knew I wanted to be with you for the rest of my life. 

"So that's why I married your mother. Not because I loved her, because I loved you. We moved to New York to start a new life, to leave our old world behind." He reached across the table and gripped his daughter's hand. "I guess somewhere deep inside of me, I knew your mother and I would never have the same relationship but I hoped that you and I could have one.

Giselle was silent. Everything was swarming in her head. She as a child had been told so many deceptions, and she, being so innocent, had believed them.

Her mother spoke for the first time since Christian started speaking. Her voice was strained and sickened. "Darling, I love you. It hurts me to think . . . how close I came to losing you. I still remember lying on that stone cold table and looking at the doctor, he only spoke spanish, he couldn't speak english, not even French! And I remember thinking to myself, 'This is the man that's going to go inside of me and take away what I've wanted most in my life'? I then I knew two things, the first being that this baby inside of me was a girl, a little girl, the girl that Christian always dreamed about. The baby girl we would stay awake to tell stories about the clothes we would buy her and what we would name her. And I also remembered 'Come What May' and the fact that Christian would always loved me.

"And so I told the doctor no. I waited for months for you to come into the world. And then . . . you were here. My little Giselle was here. And I knew what I had to do, I took what was left of my jewels and bought myself a ticket to Paris. When I showed up at Christian's door, I knew I'd betrayed him and I was agonized. But he took you in his arms and whispered your name, for he knew you were called Giselle, and I started crying. I knew you had your father." She looked down at her hands, unable to look her daughter in the eyes. "I'm sorry, my darling." She whispered.

Giselle sat there for a long time. She watched with eyes that weren't hers, looking at her sobbing mother and broken father. They were waiting for her to say something, waiting for her to say it was ok, that she forgave the past.

But she didn't.

She stood up and walked out the door, dying to see Joshua, the only one who would understand her dispair.


	5. Because . . . I love him.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone except Joshua and Giselle. Oh yea! And the story.

A/N: Whee! I love this chapter! It's _romantic_. I think you guys'll like it. *shrugs* Maybe . . .

Joshua rolled out of bed with the sound of the knock on his door. It was 8:00 at night, why would anyone want to come to him, Joshua. Unless it was Master Christian, wanting him to do a last minute checkup on something. 

Grumbling, he threw on pants not bothering to cover up his bare chest, Master Christian wouldn't care if he didn't have a shirt on.

He opened the down, expecting to see a muscular figure, instead he saw the frail broken outline of a woman. He knew immediately it was Giselle. 

He threw open the door and pulled Giselle into a hug, holding her as she sobbed against him.

Her face was hot with tears. 

Millions of scenarios were going through Joshua's head as he tried to find the reason behind her tears, each worse than the last.

"Giselle, what happened?" He asked, running fingers through her smooth hair.

"They told me about their past." She whispered softly against his skin.

Joshua laughed and wiped away tears from her face, his hands coming to rest on her cheeks.

"Well isn't that what you wanted?" He asked her, steering her to the corner where a table and two chairs sat. 

"No, Joshua," She said, sitting in the oak. "Not like this."

He listened as she told the events that had just occurred, growing furious with every word.

How could Mistress Satine have done what Giselle had just described? 

But Giselle could tell what he was thinking.

"Oh, please Joshua. Don't hate her, she was scared. She felt so alone, so . . . used." She looked to her lap. "I don't blame her."

He balled his hands into fists. 

"But what she could've done!" He yelled. "How close she came to-" He couldn't bring himself to say it. Instead he sat at Giselle's feet, gripping her knees. "When I first came here, I had lost my parents, I was on the verge of death. I wanted to. But then I met you," He grabbed her hands. "I met you and I knew I had something to live for." He brought her hands to his lips and kissed them, savoring the flavor of them. "I couldn't bare to be without you." 

Giselle smiled. She thought the same of him.

Abruptly a knock came on the door, and without answer, Giselle's father burst through the door. His hair was knitted and his eyes were bloodshot from crying.

"Joshua, Giselle's missing-" He stopped suddenly, taking in the scene before him, Joshua with his shirt off and Giselle in tears . . .

Giselle, scared of what her father might do, leaped forward and hugged Joshua, trying to make her father see.

"Oh no!" He hissed, Giselle had never known him to be this furious. His eyes had turned cold, his face was drawn tight with anger. "NO!" 

He shot forward and grabbed Joshua's arm, pulling him to his feet. He walked out the door, towards the house, Joshua stumbling after with Giselle racing to catch up.

With a heart of courage Giselle ran up and stood in front off her father. 

"Papa, stop!" She screamed, her eyes blinded by tears. 

"Stand aside you silly girl." Her father pushed her lightly out of the way, he was enraged, but not enough to hurt his beautiful daughter.

Giselle stumbled, and Joshua tried to kneel down to help her up, but Christian wouldn't allow it.

He swung Joshua around to face him.

"Never touch her again!" He spat. 

'He doesn't understand!' Giselle thought to herself. 'He doesn't understand about us.'

Christian climbed the steps to the _Moulin Rouge _with a surprising amount of speed, dragging Joshua behind him, who was stumbling on his own two feet.

"SATINE!" He shouted as he threw open the door. 

Footsteps came immediately on the stairs, running fast down them. 

Then there was Satine, beautiful Satine. Giselle ran to her and wrapped her arms around her mother's tiny waist, sobbing at the horrific scene her father had created.

"Do you know," He let go of Joshua's arm and pushed him to the ground. "What... what this monster just attempted to do to our Giselle?" He was shaking with rage and gasping for breath.

Satine looked down at her sobbing baby girl and the man tossed on the floor, shirt off.

She knew.

Or thought she did . . .

"You're fired!" Christian yelled to the figure on the tile. "Never set foot in my household again. I can't believe I even trusted you!"

Giselle's breathing stopped. _Fired? _But if he was fired, then he would leave, and Giselle would be alone. 

Giselle choked at the thought against her mother's dress. 

"It's all right, darling." Her mother murmured, kissing her red hair. "He won't hurt you ever again."

"No!" Giselle stuttered.

"What, darling?" Her mother was treating her like a broken doll!

"NO!" 

Giselle turned and ran to Joshua's side and wrapped her arms around him, aware of the bruises forming on his tender black skin. 

'My father did this," She thought to herself.

She picked up his arm and brought it to her cheek.

"What are you doing?" Her father asked her, amazed. 

"You can't fire him, Papa." She said, standing to her feet.

"Why not?" 

Joshua placed a weak hand on her calf, he knew what she wanted to do. He wanted her to do it.

"You can't fire him," She paused and shuddering. Then take a deep breath she added. "You can't fire him because . . . I love him."


	6. Goodbye Giselle

                        He stared in disbelief, as if someone was playing a cruel trick on him. He looked directly into his daughter's eyes, so determined they were. He wasn't looking for that. He searched deeper, and there it was. Love. Love was in his daughter's eyes. 

                        His daughter was in love with a servant, a black. This was impossible. They wouldn't be accepted.

                        He took a deep breath. His Gigi would hate him for what he was about to do. "You will leave tomorrow. Go to your cabin and pack your things-"

                        "What?" Giselle cried. She had a look of horror written all over her face. She collapsed and Joshua's arms enveloped her. "You can't Papa, you just can't!" She was sobbing into Joshua's arms, not his, her father's. 

                        He continued. "You will come to the back door at the crack of dawn, the maid will give you your final pay. Leave now, please."

                        The couple sat unmoving on the floor, Giselle silent sobs.

                        "NOW!" He shouted.

                        Joshua pulled away, preparing to leave.

                        "No, Joshua." Giselle begged as her lover stood up. "He doesn't mean it, Papa will let you stay." She hung on to his arm for dear life, looking at her father with a look of pure despair. "Please Papa, say you don't mean it."

                        "Joshua!" A sharp voice echoed in the huge hall. Giselle turned and saw her mother walk slowly, carefully and gracefully down the steps. "My husband does not mean what he is saying." She walked on, coming to a stop only when she was eye to eye with Christian. "Do you?"

                        "Of course I mean it." Satine's smile fell.

                        "I won't let you." She said squarely. She felt no fear. "Look at them." She waved her hand in their direction. "Do you not see it?" Christian looked to them and then back to his wife. "They're what we used to be." Christian's face fell, it was true, and memories came flooding back to him. He and Satine had clutched together many times, all because they loved each other, and weren't supposed to.

                        Satine continued. "Can you not see it in their eyes? You can't split them up."

                        Silence. Everything depended on him.

                        "Go and pack Joshua." He whispered. 

                        It just couldn't happen.

                        Giselle let out a scream and threw her arms around Joshua. He kissed away every tear on her hot face and then, left, out the door and to his cabin.

                        Giselle stared at her father. Oh how she hated him. She burst into tears and ran upstairs.

                        Satine watched this, her eyes filled with tears. She turned and retreated to her room.

                        Christian was left alone and hated.

                        ***********

                        Dawn.

                        A should-be fresh new start.

                        A ruined relationship.

                        Joshua knocked on the door sharply. 

                        The maid opened it, and let him in. 

                        "Hello Marrianne." He and the maid had always been on friendly terms. "Is the master about?" 

                        "Not that I can see." She said, and with that shoved a bundle into his arms. "There's something for you and something for Giselle in there."

                        Christian nearly dropped the dirty glass in his hand. Giselle was going with him? Christian sighed, of course she was. They were in love, lovers couldn't be pulled apart, just look at him and Satine. 

                        "Where are you going?" Christian said, appearing from the shadows.

                        Joshua yipped. He was surprised. He looked up into his master's eyes. He was scared, scared but brave.

                        "Giselle and I are going away from you." He took a deep breath and added, "We're going away from you, Mistress Satine and away from the Moulin Rouge. Goodbye Master."

                        Christian had no way of knowing that those words were twisted into the mirror of what Satine had said so many years ago.

                        "I know." Christian glared at him. This man was taking away his only daughter. He would never see them again. He pulled money out of the secret compartment under the cabinet, only Satine and Christian knew about it and for good reason, it had 5,000 dollars in it. "Go to France." He said, shoving the notes into black hands. 

                        Joshua was confused. "Excuse me?"

                        "France. Montmarte. You'll be safe there. You'll be accepted. Anyone's accepted there." Josh nodded. 

                        "Thank you." He said. He embraced Christian in an awkward hug. "Thank you so much!" And he ran out of the manor, glowing from head to toe.

                        That was the last glimpse of Joshua… ever.

                        Christian had given them all of his and Satine's savings. It was ok they would get more soon. Joshua and Giselle wouldn't. It would be a long and hard road for the two of them. 

                        Christian sighed a long sigh.

                        His daughter was gone forever away from him.

                        He was alone.

                        Not, he had Satine.

                        _Satine!_ She didn't know.

                        He ran up the stairs to her room. How could he break it to her? Giselle was her reason for living.

                        He knocked on the door, his heart racing. Hearing no answer, he opened it.

                        Satine was sitting up in her bed, clutching the comforter to her chest, waiting expectantly. 

                        "Giselle's gone. She went with Joshua." He said.

                        Satine nodded, her red hair straying ever so slightly from her braid. She already knew.

                        "Yes, well that's all I wanted." And he backed out of the room, shutting the door quietly behind him.

                        He collapsed against the back of the door.

                        Her reaction had been different than he'd pictured. He had seen her come crying into his arms, telling him to forgive her and that they had to get Giselle back. But she didn't. She had bundled herself up in her own emotions, handling them her own way. She didn't need him.

                        He wiped away the tears he didn't know he'd cried, and walked emotionless down the dark hall towards his empty room. 

                        He blankly tugged his pajamas over his head, suddenly passive. He crawled into his bed, which was cold and uninviting. Tossing and turning, he tried to let sleep take him. After what seemed an eternity of trying, he finally gave up. It wouldn't come tonight. He snapped on the light and picked up the latest copy of 'Love at the Moulin Rouge' ready to edit it. But he didn't so much as open the first page when there was a knock at the door.

                        Satine opened it.

                        "Christian?" She asked shakily, as if she was treading on unstable ground and was unsure of his reaction. "Do you think it'd… Do you think it'd be all right, if I just stayed here tonight?" Christian felt a wave of relief wash over him. He'd never been so happy to hear those words. "It's just…" She stumbled and looked him with tears shining in her eyes. "I don't want to be alone." 

                        Christian nodded and scooted to the side of his bed. Satine walked uncertainly to the bed and pulled back the covers, her foot brushing his leg as she crawled in. It was a comforting touch, but it happened so quickly. Too quickly.

                        Satine rolled over to look him in the eye. 

                        "Thank you Christian." She said, her eyes spilling out tears. He rolled over, unable to look at her. It hurt him. Too much.

                        Satine sighed a sad sigh, she wanted what they had had.

                        But they were sleeping in the same bed.

                        And that… was a start.


	7. Two lovers in love and starting anew

A/N: Well all, it's been great! Thanks for the reviews, emails, ims! You're the best! I loved signing on and seeing an email explaining how I had just made their utterly horrible day glorious again.

If you can review and tell me how you liked the story or think I could make it even better, it'd be deeply appreciated!

For weeks they felt lost, Christian and Satine. Their entire reason for being together had left them. 

'There's nothing holding us together.' Satine thought as she sipped on her coffee.

She was sitting outside her favorite New York café. It was grand yet simple, the perfect place for her. 

She thought of the idea of being without Christian and choked. What an awful picture that would be, her without Christian. 

She took a long sip of coffee, trying to wet her suddenly dry throat. Satine couldn't live without him. She still loved him, loved him deeply, with all her heart… even if he didn't love her.

She saw broad shoulders walking down towards two whores on the streets. She knew those shoulders. What was Christian doing? She picked up her coffee, ignoring the waitresses protests of her taking the glass cup with her. 

She followed her husband at a distance, afraid of him if he caught her stalking him. By the time she got close enough to hear, the two whores and Christian were deep in conversation.

"Can you dance?" Christian was asking. "And sing?" 

"Aye, both of us can." Said one, her eye makeup done so heavily it was impossible to tell her age. 

"I want you to come to this address at 3:00, wear no makeup and dress elegantly." He handed her a card. 

The whores probably thought it was business; they flirted with him, taking the card and holding his hand ever so slightly. But Satine knew what he was doing; the card had the address of the studio where 'Love At The Moulin Rouge' was. Christian was giving them a job. Satine felt tears in her eyes. 

He didn't want them to be like she ended up.

After many attempts of getting Christian to do _something, _the whores gave up.

"By the way, there's a skinny little red head watching you." The oldest one pointed Satine's way. And with one more flirtatious smile they both left. 

Satine came out of the shadows and looked Christian in the eye.

"That was sweet Christian." She said, nothing moved except her lips. She was stunned.

"They reminded me of you." He looked away. "They probably had to do this to support themselves. Now they can support themselves in a different way."

Satine nodded. "They only have two days." She said, referring to the date of the play.

"They'll learn quickly. It's better than being out on the streets." Christian ran his hand through his dark hair. "I better go, I was supposed to be at the studio 30 minutes ago." And he brushed past her, not coldly, quickly. Almost as if he would stay there for two more seconds, he'd do something he'd regret.

*****

            Between Satine's rehearsals for her play and Christian's 'Love at the Moulin Rouge', the two rarely saw each other. In a way they were avoiding each other, Satine loved Christian so much she wanted to collapse into his arms anytime she saw him, little did she know Christian was having the same problem.

            But somehow, sitting in the plush blue seats of the elaborate theater made her want him sitting right besides her, holding her hand. But he wasn't. Instead he was back stage, running through the music one more time with the lead star, or fixing the makeup on one of the extras because all other makeup artists were tied up.

            She fingered her program carefully without folding it. 'Love At The Moulin Rouge' was written on it in beautiful red script. Underneath it, it said 'The love story of doomed lovers, Christopher and Satina.'

            Satine got out her pen with the blue ink. Slowly as if she was unsure if wanted to do it, she crossed out Christopher and Satina and put Christian and Satine in it's place. The ink bleed through, but Satine thought it looked prettier like that… truer.

            Music played, signaling the start of the play.

            Teary-eyed Satine looked up. She would have to face this eventually, why not on opening night? 

            She sat with a blasé face throughout the show. It was awful. She remembered all the words, all the kisses and all the nights that were portrayed in the play. It was heart wrenching to see someone else singing _their _song. She felt sick. 

            And then came the end, the worst part.

            Christopher begging Satina to tell him she doesn't love her and Satina begging him to come back to her.

            Satine tried to keep a straight face as the words 'I've paid my whore' rang out through the building. But she couldn't. Tears were streaming down her face.

            When the words 'The show must go on' poured from the maharaja's voice, Satine was sobbing. Every memory came charging back.

"Never knew… I could feel like this. It's like I've never seen the sky, before. Want to vanish, inside your kiss! Everyday I'm loving you more and more! Listen to my heart! Can you hear it sing? Come back to me! And forgive EVERYTHING!" The girl's voice was good, but high and so unlike Satine's own. It was foreign.      

"Come what may!" Christopher started to sing.

She was literally sick.

"Come what may!"

Satine's stomach churned. Every word was a painfull stab.

"COME WHAT MAY!"

She couldn't take it anymore. Sobbing, she stood up and inched out of the isle and ran down the theater, towards the stage. 

She was going to see Christian.

She threw open the doors, her arms weak with anticipation. What would Christian do?

At this point she didn't care. She had to kiss him, had to hold him. One last time…

She weaved through the crowd of people backstage waiting to go onstage. She had to get to him. She asked everyone 'Where's the writer?' They all pointed in one direction.

Satine ran, she could see his slumped shoulders, his bloodshot eyes. 

            "CHRISTIAN!" She was scared for him.

            He looked up. Every part of his body was shaking. He rushed towards her…

            And kissed her.

            Satine was shocked. 

            She was in his arms again, breathing in his scent, kissing his lips.

            How wonderful it was!

            Satine broke down crying. She was home. She was in love. She was Christian's again.

            "I love you Satine. I never stopped loving you and I never will."

            Satine smiled and repeated the words.

            They embraced and kissed again, sobbing, being in love.

            And so… while the audience saw the show of two lovers, doomed and pulled apart, the stage crew saw the show of two lovers, in love and starting anew.


End file.
